


Shine like the Sun

by alias2335



Category: Naruto
Genre: Chuunin Exams, Gen, Nonbinary Character, Rebuilt Uzushiogakure | Hidden Eddy Village, Uzushiogakure | Hidden Eddy Village
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:08:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23866540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alias2335/pseuds/alias2335
Summary: 6 years after Uzumaki Chiba took Naruto to Uzushiogakure, it's time for the Chunnin Exams, and Naruto is returning to Konoha as a foreign ninja, ready to take the village- and the world- by storm.
Comments: 42
Kudos: 185





	1. remember when you were young...

_._

_There's a knock on the door._

_It's the first thing Naruto remembers, about that day. He was watering the plants when they came._

_The knock sounded out twice. Firm, short raps that weren’t accompanied by angry screaming. So he guessed it probably wasn't a neighbor blaming him for something that was, probably, not his fault._

_He left the watering can on the floor and padded over to the door. Opening it revealed Hokage-jiji and an old lady on the other side. She was taller than the Hokage, though just as ancient._

_Naruto broke into a smile, running to hug the Hokage’s legs._

_“Jiji!” He said excitedly._

_Usually, and that was to say, always, with the exception of that day, the Hokage visited once a month, to give Naruto his monthly allowance and ask how things were going. Allowance-day had only been a week ago. This was an unexpected, but welcome, visit._

_In any case, Naruto didn't get any other visits._

_“Naruto-kun,” said jiji, patting his head. “May we come in?”_

_Naruto stood up straight and looked at the old lady again. She smiled faintly and inclined her head at him. Blushing, he moved to hold the door open for them both._

_“Of course! Welcome to my home.” He mumbled, and both adults walked in._

_Jiji had been at Naruto’s apartment many times before, so he headed straight to the kitchen, where a table and four different colored chairs where located._

_The old lady took her time._

_She crossed the door and let Naruto close it behind her, then stopped to take everything in. The apartment was small, and there wasn’t much in the way of decoration. Naruto was 6 years old, and he had no frame of reference for interior design. His room in the orphanage had been bare, and with the exception of a calendar hanging on his bedroom wall, so where the walls of his apartment. There was an old rug at the entrance that came with the apartment, a bookshelf with Gama-chan on the top shelf and Naruto’s very small collection of books; a cookbook, a comic book about the Hokage’s and a book about ninja tools and weapons he'd found in the trash._

_Naruto was messy but clean, so while his bed was unmade, the house wasn't actually dirty. In his room he kept a basket with his unwashed clothes, and a closet that hid his extra blankets and clothes._

_The only thing in the apartment that looked remotely like decoration were the plants. And there were a lot of them. There were potted plants, plants hanging from nails on the ceiling, flowers and herbs._

_Naruto liked plants._

_The vivarium was one of the few places that he wasn’t thrown out of, and the half-blind man who worked there always explained to Naruto how to care for anything he bought, including when to re-pot a plant or when to prune leaves._

_Naruto’s plants were all healthy and growing, not a single one had died, and he liked talking to them. The plants were his friends._

_His only friends, because no human other than jiji liked him._

_After examining the house, the old lady took a seat besides the Hokage, and Naruto followed them, sitting in front of them._

_“Naruto”, said jiji once he’d taken a seat, “I want to introduce you to Uzumaki Chiba… your great grandmother.”_

_Naruto stopped breathing._

_He looked at the old woman closely. Besides her grey hair she had dark blue eyes, wrinkly pale skin. Her grey hair was made up in an elaborate bun, and she was wearing a ninja kimono. No forehead protector. She was smiling, a small upturn of her lips, as she waited for him to finish his inspection._

_Ever since he could remember, Naruto had wanted a family._

_It was every orphans dream, wasn't it?_

_When he'd lived at the orphanage, the other children would play a game: one would be the orphan and the other the long lost parent or sibling. Naruto wasn't allowed to play with them, but he'd sit in his bed, close his eyes tight and imagine a pretty lady, or a kind looking man would come in and say, “Sorry I’m late. I didn’t know you were here. I’m your mother.” or your father, uncle, aunt, older sibling… He’s imagined grandparents before, but they weren't his favorite fantasy._

_But, now, suddenly, the fantasy in front of him was real... and instead of the feeling of incontrollable joy and relief he had always expected and imagined… all he felt was dread._

_It felt like a trick. A cruel one, at that._

_“I thought…” started Naruto, stumbling with the words, unable to look at either the woman or at jiji, staring down at his worn table. Worn because he got it second hand. He’d only been at the apartment for a year._

_“I thought I didn’t have any family. That no one knew who my parents were.” he finished._ _The words got quieter and quieter as he talked. He half expected one of the adults to interrupt him, but neither did._

_It was quiet for a moment, and then the woman spoke for the first time. Her voice was deep with age, stern and very proper, but Naruto found that despite all that he liked it. He looked up to her through his bangs._

_“Your mother’s name was Uzumaki Kushina.” she said with certainty, and Naruto’s eyes widened._

_A mother! He had a mother…_

_The old woman continued talking._

_“…I am not allowed to tell you of your father, but Kushina was my granddaughter. She came to Konohagakure from our homeland, Uzoshigakure, when she was a child, a little older than you are now. She left because it was a time of war. That is why we have never met before. I do not live in Konoha, and so never before had the chance to meet you.”_

_It was a lot of information, but Naruto absorbed it immediately and believed it to be true._

_“My mother…she wasn’t from Konoha?” His heart filled up._

_It wasn't that his family didn’t want him! It was that they didn’t live in the same city! It had taken Chiba- Chiba-baa-chan? (!) a while to get to Konoha, but now he had a family!_

_And then other thoughts began to flood in. If his mother wasn’t from Konoha... maybe that was why no one liked him?_ _Why kids weren’t allowed to play with him and why vendors always charged him more than what the labels said things were worth when he bought groceries?_

_“She was, Naruto-kun” said jiji, interrupting his thoughts. “When Kushina became a ninja, she pledged her allegiance to the Hidden Leaf, renouncing any other loyalties she might have had previously and becoming a full citizen of the village.”_

_Naruto frowned. He’d asked jiji before about his parents. Countless times. And jiji had always said he didn’t know. Suddenly he did? And Chiba-baa-chan said she couldn’t tell him about his father? It didn’t make any sense._

_“Baachan-" He started, but was interrupted._

_“No. Obaa-sama. I am the head of our clan. Though we are small now, more than ever, we respect tradition.”_

_Naruto blushed._

_“Sorry,” he mumbled._

_He’d never been very respectful. He’d never had a reason to. Adults, in his experience, didn’t really deserve his respect. But this was his - grandmother\- he could make an exception for her. _

_“Baa-sama...why can’t you tell me of my father?”_

_Chiba-baasama inclined her head towards jiji._

_“Hokage-sama has asked me not to speak of him. In this matter, I defer to his authority.”_

_Jiji sighed, and though he looked sad, and Naruto had always wanted to avoid jiji looking sad… suddenly he felt angry._

_Jiji’s had lied to him. He’d lied and Naruto couldn't understand why- _

_He thought Hokage-jiji was different._

_He thought Hokage-jiji cared about him._

_“It's for your own safety Naruto-kun. Your father was a powerful ninja, with many enemies… I believe you would be in great danger if knowledge of your parentage were to reach the wrong people.”_

_Naruto reached levels of angry he’s reached few times before. He couldn't really articulate, even though he tried-_

_“you could've told - me-“ he started, stoped, growled._

_“I wouldna said anything… you know who they were and you -lied\- to me…” _

_He stoped. He wanted to SCREAM, he wanted to throw something at jiji but… he glanced up at Chiba-baasama. Her face was blank and expressionless, but her eyes were tracking him, and more than anything, Naruto didn’t want her to think he was bad._

_If she thought he was - bad\- then... _

_t_ _hen..._

_“I’m truly sorry Naruto-kun” said jiji. “It is for the best.”_

_Naruto felt tears prickle in his eyes, and he looked back down. He clenched his fists, and squeezed. He wouldn't cry. He wouldn't let the tears fall. He was going to be good for baa-sama._

_They were all quiet for a while._

_Naruto trying to be good._

_And the grownups gave him time to compose himself._

_After a while, baa-sama spoke once more._

_“Naruto.” she said, and Naruto looked back up to her. She had crossed her hands in front of her, over the table. Naruto noticed that despite being old, she had long, straight fingers._

_“I did not come to Konoha by chance. When your mother, Kushina, came to this village, she was not alone. She, along with many other citizens came as refugees.”_

_She stopped, cleared her throat and continued._

_“You see, our village, Uzushio, was very nearly destroyed 20 years ago in the last great war. To save our citizens, we urged many to evacuate and migrate to our allies. Some citizens came here, to Konoha. Some went to Kuso… Ame... Suna. The war ended 10 years ago, and some of us decided to return and rebuild Uzushio.”_

_"I have spent the last few years traveling the world and urging these evacuated citizens to return to our village. Some return, but some have created families and gained a new home. That means some decide to stay where they are. I force no one to return. When I came here, I was aware of your mother’s death. I was unaware that you even existed.”_

_There she stopped again. It looked like she was composing thoughts in her head._

_“I don’t understand,” said Naruto._

_Because he didn't._

_“I will not be staying in Konoha.” said Chiba-baasama, carefully, and quieter than before._

_“Both your parents were Konoha shinobi Naruto. You were born in this village, and that makes you a citizen of Konohagakure. But since your mother emigrated from Uzushiogakure, you are also a citizen of the village hidden in the Whirlpools. If you wish, you may legally renounce your citizenship of this village, and come live with me in Uzushio.”_

_“Naruto-kun” said jiji as soon as Chiba-baasama stopped talking,_

_“If you go, you must be aware. Uzushiogakure is much smaller than Konoha, they have less resources and people. You will have much better opportunities as a Konoha shinobi. If you leave, you will no longer be a citizen of this land, and many opportunities will be closed to you.”_

_Naruto felt scared._

_Too much had happened in very little time. He was supposed to start the ninja academy in a month’s time. He had the date triple circled in his calendar._

_But…_

_“_ _Obaa-sama, if I stay in Konoha will you come visit me?” He asked, his voice small._

_She frowned._

_“It is unlikely Naruto. I am part of the village council in Uzushio and I have many duties that I cannot disregard. However, if you decide to stay, I will inform the rest of our clan of your whereabouts, and they may come visit if they wish. Likewise, once you become a ninja, if your travels ever bring you close to Uzushiogakure our doors will always be open to one of our own.”_

_The decision he had was simple, thought Naruto, and at the same time, they hadn’t really come out and said it plain._

_Jiji spoke once more._

_“We know this is a lot of information to take in Naruto-kun, and it is a difficult decision for one so young. Chiba-dono leaves in three days time. You may take that time to think about your decision.”_

_What they were saying was that Naruto could either live in Konoha, or live in Uzushio._

_What they were saying was that Naruto had to choose, between the village were he was born and leaving for the unknown._

_Maybe it was a difficult decision for other people. But Naruto knew what he wanted, and he rarely, if ever, changed his mind about anything._

_“_ _No need jiji!” He said, smiling for the first time in the conversation, small but true._

_"I already know what I want to do… I’ve always dreamed of a family. I’ll go with you Chiba-baasama. I wanna… I wanna be a part of your family.” he said._

_The old woman, who had been serious and proper since Naruto had first set eyes on her suddenly grinned. Eyes crinkled, teeth exposed._

_“You are more than welcome, grandson.”_

_Something unwound inside Naruto._

_He felt like he could finally breathe. A matching grin of his own split his face._

_He had a family. _

...

When Naruto woke up, it was to the sound of his alarm clock.

He sat up in bed, yawning.

The memory of his dreams faded as his eyes landed on his calendar. 

He grinned. 

Today, his team would set out to Konohagakure for the chunnin exams.

He was going back. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New story! Yei. 
> 
> So! couple of things. I'm world building in this story so the notes are going to be full of my funfacts and headcannons. Here goes: 
> 
> 1\. I suck at titles, but for this story I was inspired by Pink Floyd's album Wish You Where Here. All the chapters are gonna be named after lyrics from the album lol. The title is the first verse from Shine on You Crazy Diamond: Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun...
> 
> 2\. Chiba is Kushina's grandmother, therefore Naruto's great grandmother. She's named that way because of the Chiba prefacture of Japan (千葉) which means a thousand leaves. It's a double meaning, in the sense that Uzumaki Mito is named after the capital of the Kantō District, and I wanted Chiba to have an etymology similar to Mito's. The second reason is because I wanted her to have something that meant 'old' in her name... therefore 千. 
> 
> If you don't like original characters, don't be too worried, Chiba is an important but background character. I needed someone to take Naruto out of Konoha, and Kushina having a brother or sister seemed too unbelievable for me. 
> 
> 3\. The reason Naruto leaves so easy is because this story is set before he starts the ninja academy, before he meets Iruka-sensei. At this point in cannon, Naruto really is alone, and the village has done nothing to encourage his loyalty. He's an angry, confused, lonely boy. And then suddenly he isn't. 
> 
> 4\. As for how come Sarutobi lets Konoha's jinchuriki leave? So I'm imagining that before coming to visit Naruto Chiba and Sarutobi had a looooong legal discussion about custody. This discussion included bringing out old documents going as far back as the creation of Konoha and the laws that say that clan supersedes village. As a blood relative to both the founder's wife and the person in question, Mito won. Also, Konoha and Uzushio are allies. In any case, the Sandaime is in for a real long cussing out by the village council. 
> 
> 5\. In this story, Uzushio allows dual citizenship, and Konoha doesn't. This is because Uzushio is small, and rebuilding, and it doesn't want to discourage its villagers from leaving indefinitely. It's basically a poor country with a massive migration trying to bring back its citizens. 
> 
> Thats it for now!


	2. swimming in a fish bowl

Naruto looked around his living room a last time, making sure he wasn’t forgetting anything for the trip. His blue eyes swept across the house; full of plants, scrolls, and scribbled, half copied seals and designs. 

He had pictures; There was one of him and Chiba-baasama on the trip from Konoha to Uzushio, one of the entire family on Chiba-baasama's birthday, one of him and Nagato-nii when Naruto officially became a ninja and the older shinobi’s apprentice… the most recent one was of him and his gennin team. 

One of the things he had to find in Konoha was a picture of his mother. 

Even if it was only her official shinobi card… he _needed_ it.

He locked the house behind him, and started running towards his grandmother’s bigger house, just down the road. 

If it could be called a _“road”_. 

There was a visible path, to be sure… only it was several feet underwater. 

The seawater in these parts was turquoise and transparent, and underneath him coral biomes swelled with fish life. Visible from the surface were the underwater glowing seals set all around Uzushio, the ones that protected them from, and to a certain extent controlled, the sea currents. The land of Whirpools was not so much ‘land’ as it was several small, very small, and medium islands off the coast of the mainland. The seas that surrounded Uzushio were plagued by perpetual and dangerous whirlpools, giving the land its name. 

The main city was on the largest island, but the Uzumaki's lived on a set of separate, smaller ones. Naruto sometimes hesitated even too call them ‘islands’. Their land was more like sand dune beaches and coral that had risen above the surface and been petrified into rock. 

The path between Naruto’s miniature island-home and Chiba-obaasama’s bigger home was simply the spaces of visible sand between the coral ecosystems that lived beneath the water. 

The water itself was not particularly deep; the deepest point was still diving distance without gear, and for most of the ‘road’ even Naruto, one of the youngest and smallest in the clan, wouldn’t sink much deeper than his chest. 

Before learning to water walk, he used to swim to the other homes, and before _that_ he’d take his canoe, even now tied to the dock on his house, unused for several months.

There were thousands of interesting fish and animals in and around the area, and one of Naruto’s favorite pastimes was diving under the surface and following sea turtles and small sharks around. 

He’d learned to identify quite a few number of poisons this way, since the poison specialists in his clan and village would also spend hours of the day bellow, hunting down the various species of anemones, jelly fish and other creatures that provided toxins. 

In the corals, bright colors didn’t always mean poison… but sometimes they did. The sea was never _not_ interesting, and some days Naruto preferred to sit on his porch, practicing his seals… and when he grew bored he’d stick his head under the turquoise water, watching the underwater metropolis, so much fuller and more complicated compared to their relatively small village. 

The Uzumaki compound was a series of small houses almost identical to his own. Some, like his, with a base over sand, some over petrified coral, and some held up by nothing more than wooden beams, covered in seals that prevented water rot. The main building, three times the size of all the other houses, was also the closest to the village, and so directly in Naruto’s path. 

Entering the larger house, Naruto headed straight to the kitchen where he found his cousin, Honoka, feeding her baby. He left his keys with her, as well as a list of strict instructions to water and care for his plants. 

Honoka rolled her eyes at him, but nodded anyways. She was technically off duty, on maternity leave to take care of the baby, but even if she hadn't been, she’d be the one in the family with the most time anyways. 

Honoka was one of the last Uzumaki’s to return to Uzushio, even after Naruto, and she was a seals-master exclusively. Her house was more like a seals workshop, and so she spent a lot of time in Chiba-obaasama’s house. To Naruto’s knowledge, the farthest she’d gotten from the village since arriving was a few kilometers underwater to strengthen the protections around the village. 

“Be good to your team, Naruto.” she said as he turned to leave, “and kick some ass.”

“You know I will!” Naruto shouted, then he bent down to kiss her and the baby both goodbye. The baby giggled, bright eyed and in a good mood. 

Naruto melted, just a little. 

With a final wave he went hunting for his grandmother, his last stop before going to his team’s meeting point. He found her in the sunroom, still in her sleeping yukata, having breakfast. 

Naruto bowed formally to the head of his clan as he entered the room, then grinned, and disregarding all formality, ran at her and threw his arms around her thin frame. 

She let out a sigh that could be interpreted as a laugh, and spoke. 

“Aren’t you running a little late Naruto-kun? Your cousin came in almost an hour ago and told me that you where leaving at 9h00.”

Naruto smiled up at her, disentangling himself and stealing a piece of toast from her plate. 

“I still got half an hour,” he said in between mouthfuls, “If I run fast I’ll reach the main gates before it's time… and there’s _no way_ I was leaving before saying goodbye!” 

Chiba-baasama snorted, hiding her face behind her tea cup. In the years he’d known the old woman, she’d gone from moving around animatedly to confined to the house for a variety of health reasons. But her smile was as ready as always, and she was as warm and loving as she’d been the day she’d accepted him into her family. 

“You make me blush Naruto-kun. In any case, since you came, I might as well make good use of you instead of calling for a messenger. There’s a sealed scroll on my office desk, go fetch it."

Naruto jumped up, ran through the house until he found the scroll, then ran back. Even though her health had been on the decline lately, Chiba-obaasama was still part of the village council. However, unless her person was required urgently, the council sent her documents to read and review via gennin messengers.

He presented the scroll to the old woman, who squinted at it, confirmed it to be the correct one, and nodding, pressed it to his chest. 

“Give it to your sensei. One more thing. I’ve been thinking, here,” she gave him a piece of paper with a name and direction, and he looked at it, curiously.

“This is the only other Uzumaki I knew of still living in Konoha. Well, half-Uzumaki. He might have stories of your mother.” 

Gratefully, Naruto clutched the paper to his chest. Then he turned to kiss his grandmother on her wrinkly old cheek.

He’d told his family of his personal mission, besides the exams, on his return to Konoha. He was going to find himself a picture of Kushina, his mother… whatever it took. 

_As long as it doesn't cause an international incident between the two villages_ , had warned Chiba-baasama. 

Naruto had blushed, but nodded.

It wasn’t that he’d never seen a picture of his mother… as a birthday gift, when he’d turned 9, Nagato-nii had given him Uzumaki Kushina’s entry in an outdated Kumo Bingo Book. It was a small picture, of her as a teenager, a little older than what Naruto himself was now, and black and white. He still wanted another. 

With a last hug, he stood up, ready to leave. 

“Good luck Naruto-kun!” said Chiba-baasama, “And whatever happens, I know you’ll make me proud.” 

Grinning, he threw up a peace sign, then turned and exited the house, not through the door he’d entered, technically the back door, but through the main entrance. 

The Uzumaki lands, like all the other small islands that belonged to the clans, was visible from the main island. As Naruto ran out, the water beneath him became darker, deeper. The main island was 2,000km wide, with a large bay were all the ships that carried the international trade were situated, and like all the other islands, it was surrounded by seals. The ocean was so deep in those parts, on almost all sides, the seals became invisible to the naked eye. 

Before Naruto had learned water-walking, he'd take his canoe and row to the village. It used to take him almost half an hour by canoe. Now, running at full speed, he got there in less than 15 minutes. 

Uzushio had an odd beauty to it. The city was a combination of wooden huts and two and three story buildings made out of cement. The new city had been constructed on the remains of the old, and unfortunately, there were still visible scars where the previous buildings had been torn down, brutally and violently. A house would neighbor an empty lot, full of rubble from the attack more than 20 years ago.

Naruto sped past the city, not bothering to slow down as he tore through the market, full of a variety of sea foods that were delicacies in any other part of the world. The houses were all decorated by shells, colorful rocks, or the bleached bones of sea creatures. He passed by the pharmacies, bakeries, clothing shops... and eventually made it to the main street. 

The street ended with the city gates, and behind those, Naruto knew was the wharf, where all the larger boats were parked. As he approached, he could see two merchant caravans, and his gennin team. 

Uzushio’s village security was unlike many of the other shinobi villages, which were closed off completely. Uzushiogakure was built over an island, and that gave it a certain amount of security, but there was no outer wall around the village. Instead, in front of the wharf there was a tall wooden gate, seemingly unconnected to anything beyond. 

Which was not strictly true. Seal masters had painted protective seals all around the island, and anyone trying to get into the city without taking the main gates would be in for a nasty surprise. 

Although it was quite easy to leave the city borders, considering the seals had no reason to keep things _in_ … if you did leave, and weren’t wearing a seal negating the electric security perimeter, you had to go back in through the main gate. The seals around the city were for the most part hidden, now. Plant life had taken over the ground and rocks where the seals had been carved, and only a few were visible to the eye. All Uzushio-citizens had the counter seal carved into, or painted on, objects they never took off- necklaces, bracelets, anklets, earrings, hair ornaments... Naruto had even seen it tattooed here and there. 

He himself had the seal on a bracelet, the main stone a golden, iridescent coral. 

It wasn’t the only jewelry, or for that matter, the only seal, he carried on his body at all times. 

Naruto reached the gates, a few minutes before the deadline, skidding in front of the group and singing _“ta-daaaa”_ just as he arrived. 

Konan, his sensei, looked him over suspiciously, but said nothing. 

Karin, Naruto’s cousin and now teammate snorted and shook her head. Haku, Naruto’s other teammate, remained silent, though a small smile adorned their face. 

Uzushio was only sending out one team for the chunnin exams, and they had only been together for a few weeks. Because they were such a small village, the gennin usually worked under other ninjas, chunnin and jonnin depending on the specialization they were looking for, as apprentices. 

Karin had two ninja specializations she was working on developing, and as such had two mentors. She was studying to become a medic-nin, working in the Uzushio central hospital under the direct command of her mother, Akane. Karin was also a natural sensor, and to develop her basic skills in both that and the other ninja arts, the village council had assigned her to Konan. Konan-sensei was one of the villages best ninja, and through her, Karin hopped to learn more than just “basic” techniques. 

Naruto’s other teammate was a recent addition to the village, and they produced conflicting feeling in Naruto. Some part of him felt that by bringing Haku to Uzushio, he’d saved the other teen… The other part felt guilty that he hadn’t let Haku die with their teacher and master. 

Haku, like Karin, was a year older than Naruto, and they were still the prettiest person Naruto had seen their age. For normal missions, they wore their long black hair in a bun on top of their head, and a white mask, fashioned similar to their old Kiri ANBU mask, different only in that the Kiri markings had been changed for the Uzu spiral, and instead of covering their entire face, the mask ended just past Haku's nose. 

Haku wore the mask for the same reason they’d worn it in the past. When the mask was on, they were ninja. When it was off, they were Haku. As a ninja, Haku was quiet, efficient, and rutheless. Without it, they were shy, lovely, and unfortunately, depressed. 

Though not a medic-specific ninja, Haku enjoyed learning of medicinal plants and their uses, and one of the few ways in which they engaged openly and energetically was discussing plants with Karin. The rapid change from medical to poisonous usually gave Naruto mood whiplash. 

After they’d arrived, Haku had been offered to apprentice and partner Konan as well. Their skillsets were both deadly, silent and unique, and their personalities similar enough that friction wasn’t anticipated. An added bonus was that as one of the very few S class shinobi in the village, Konan was more than qualified to continue teaching Haku, who wasn’t a chunnin yet only because they’d asked to be made a gennin, when they’d first arrived.

Haku had told Naruto this was because if they were to be a Uzushio ninja, they wanted to have the same starting point as everyone else. 

Considering she already had command over two of the ninja ready to ascend ranks, the decision to make Konan the leader of a traditional three man gennin team was very simple. 

Naruto joined the team last, only a little conflicted about leaving behind his mentor, Uzumaki Nagato. Though Naruto missed training with Nagato-nii, Konan-sensei was as amazing a ninja, and an incredible mission leader. 

They’d been together only for three D rank missions as a team, though each had completed more on their own, and now, they were taking on a C rank; as they left the village for the exam, they would also be accompanying three merchants to Kusa to export some of the delicacies only available in Uzushio. 

Once in Kusa, they would be joining the grass contingent to Konoha for the chunnin exams. 

Leaving Uzushio demanded an experienced navigator and a special boat, covered in the many seals that made avoiding the deadly whirlpools surrounding the village not only feasible, but necessary. 

Uzushio textbooks explained that the city had almost been erased from the face of the earth once, in a terrible joint attack by three of the 5 main ninja villages. To do this, Kiri had supplied great war ships, and had parked those an hour out to sea- experienced ninja had then run over the water without loosing too much energy before attacking the gates, bypassing one of the villages main protections, the whirlpools, entirely. 

Uzushio had survived the attack thanks to the people who had fled before hand, and returned, years later, to their homeland. 

Nagato-nii and Naruto had once taken a mission in the mainland, and as training had ran all the way… with their enormous Uzumaki chakra supply, it had been a feasible undertaking… but even _they_ had been tired out after 5 hours of non-stop running, and had returned to the village the traditional way, _by boat._

The gennin helped the merchants load the ship, then got on themselves.

Leaving the protections of the seals that surrounded the village felt like a shiver, and then they were out in the open sea. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is me nerding out on the possibilities! of the land of whirlpools. 
> 
> 1\. First of all! Honoka is a character that appears in like, one episode of shippuden, and she does seals and she has red hair so I'm making her an Uzumaki. I might expand on her later, I might not. 
> 
> 2\. I just love the image of Naruto swimming in coral reefs, watching all the brightly colored fish and following after turtles and sharks with the same awe divers do. (Think Lilo in the opening scene of Lilo & Stitch.)
> 
> That image made me think, well, if there were corals around, how would that affect the village? How could they profit from that, and protect that? 
> 
> The idea of the city being pretty much on the sea also made me think that water walking for ninja is necessary the way tree walking is in Konoha with those huge trees all around... and that gives me the added bonus of Naruto and company starting off early on with better chakra control than in canon. 
> 
> This is by no means a super-powered Naruto story… but because of the difference in teaching methods, his Ninja arts are going to be waaaay different. I’ll get into that later :P
> 
> 3\. Another thing, because I can, and because it's fun, I’m imagining Uzushiogakure fashion to be slightly surfer-esque. As in, everyone has tan skin, braids and bracelets and necklaces and tattoos, and they like dressing in bright colors. So though I haven’t described the clothes yet, Naruto is definitely wearing orange. 
> 
> The story is leaving Uzushio for a long while, so if you want to be like me and waste a few hours on the internet, look up the beautiful resorts around the Polynesian Islands and imagine a bunch of ninja Naruto-running on the water. Or google coral ecosystems. They are so amazing it’s just ridiculous. 
> 
> 4\. This is my first time writing a non-binary character, I hope I do it justice. I started off with Haku being a crossdresser, like in cannon, but they refused to stay male in the story, and who am I to disagree? Kishimoto, like many male manga-ka is pretty shit at writing women and (zero) gay characters, so I said fuck it, lets give it a try. 
> 
> Any comments or suggestions are greatly appreciated!


	3. how we found the same old fears

They had good luck with the weather, and so the ride was as short as could be expected, and uneventful. 

They docked in a small settlement, the place where all vessels to Uzushio arrived and departed. The land was technically part of Grass country, but everyone knew the small town was loyal to the land of Whirlpools, and thankfully, after the reconstruction of Uzushio, there had been no disputes between both countries. 

At least once a day a ship left from the mainland and traveled to Uzushio and back, but smaller boats could be contracted at the outposts to take tourists and sellers to the islands at any time. 

Alongside the docks was the largest building in the settlement; an office building where all ninja mission requests from outsiders arrived at the outpost. Mission requests were written in scrolls with summoning seals, transported to the mission desk on the islands, and responded to within the hour. Despite this, there were always a minimum of two jonnin and four chunnin at the outpost to take any truly urgent missions, or to dissuade any trouble should it arrive. 

It was to this building that Konan-sensei took the scroll Chiba-baachan had sent her, and here that she had to formally accept the C-rank mission they were undertaking. 

Merchants from Uzushio traveling farther inland than the outpost tended to contract ninja to protect them, as was the custom everywhere, and so Naruto, Haku and Karin helped their clients unload their merchandise.

There were three separate carts, two horses, one donkey, and 5 people. 

Two of the vendors where selling food; their carts full of still live squid, clams, crabs, shrimp and more… just thinking about it made Naruto’s mouth water. These were frequent travelers. They would visit the mainland twice a month for a couple of days each trip, and then return. As such, they tended to contract one of the chunnin at the outpost.

It was the last merchant that had requested a team led by a jonnin. It was a cart full of sea based jewels. The cheaper wares were colorful seashell and sea glass objects, but there were also polished coral jewels, and pearls, significantly more expensive. White, pink and black pearls, of different sizes and made into beautiful ornaments. The jeweler had everything with him, earrings, bracelets, necklaces, pins, hair ornaments, hats and shawls with woven into jewels... The jewel vender tended to travel the mainland for months, selling to everyone from travelers to the wives of powerful Daimyo's. After he had exhausted all of his commodities, he returned to Uzushio, considerably richer than he'd left. He would probably contract a foreign ninja on his return trip. Naruto’s team was only responsible for seeing them into Kusagakure. 

Konan-sensei returned to the group, and they set out. 

Karin, as their main sensor, sat on one of the fish-caravans, eyes closed and concentrating on all surroundings, ready at any moment to alert them to danger. Her range was a couple kilometers wide, and Naruto, Haku and Konan took a triangular formation within this range, ready for unexpected movements. 

There was a low chance of attack on an escort mission such as theirs, and therefore Karin felt comfortable expelling large quantities of chakra, trying to expand both her perception’s range and her chakra reserves, in preparation for the exams. 

She was an Uzumaki, but she was far behind Naruto in chakra quantity, even without counting his additional reserves. 

The trip didn’t encounter any enemies, but one of the carts stumbled on a particularly large rock and broke a wheel, and replacing it took longer than expected. 

They arrived at Kusagakure at dusk.

Exhausted, they parted ways with the vendors. Konan-sensei received their payment, and then disappeared once more, going in search of the village administration, to inform of their arrival. 

The three gennin were left to their own devises, and after a couple minutes wandering around, Naruto's stomach decided for the three of them to go in search of dinner. They found a small food stall serving ramen, and sat down to eat. Konan-sensei appeared besides them when Haku and Karin were finishing their first bowl, and Naruto was ordering his third. 

“The delegation has decided to leave tomorrow.” said Konan-sensei without preamble. She looked at the menu behind the cook, and ordered some dumplings. 

“Tomorrow?” asked Karin, her voice tight. 

Both Haku and Naruto turned to look at their teammate. She was frowning, her red eyes narrowed behind her glasses. She caught Naruto’s eye, but with a small shake of her head, looked away. 

“Because of our late arrival.” said Konan-sensei, ignoring the sudden tension. "If we were to leave now we would have to make camp for the night inside the land of Fire, and the grass ninja would rather not. We leave tomorrow at 0400. We’ll look for lodgings after we finish our food.” 

Karin sighed, and looked down, but said nothing. Haku, as was usual when they wore their mask, remained quiet as well. 

Naruto slurped his noodles, thinking. 

The night before they had left Uzushio, the Uzumaki’s in the village had gathered at Chiba-baasama’s house to wish the departing gennin well and offer recommendations for the exams. 

Karin’s mother, Naruto's aunt Akane had taken him aside when he’d gotten up to leave. She’d gripped his shoulders tightly, and with an intensity she rarely showed, begged him to promise to take care of his cousin. 

It wasn’t a difficult promise. Though very talented, Karin was mostly a non-combat ninja, and Naruto was. In his mind, Karin was his responsibility. He was his cousin’s protector- and the fear in his aunt’s gaze had rattled him, momentarily. 

He’d forgotten all about it in the morning of course, what with the excitement and anticipation… but now he wondered. 

They found an inn at the outskirts of the village that Konan-sensei was familiar with, and prepared for bed. Konan-sensei took a room for herself, and the three gennin took another. 

They were unusually quiet as they got ready for bed - laying their bags one besides the other - Naruto closest to the window, Karin in the middle and Haku closest to the door. They hadn’t been together long, but already they had fallen into at least one routine - Karin was _always_ in the middle, no matter the activity. 

Even after turning off the lights and murmuring good night, Naruto lay awake, staring at the ceiling. 

It was almost a relief to hear a rustling to his side and for Karin to snuggle up to him, hiding her face in his shoulder. 

“Naru,” she whispered, “I feel horrible being back here."

It didn’t take a genius, and Naruto certainly wasn’t one, to tell as much. 

“What’s up Kaachin?"

For a while, Karin was silent, breathing slowly, her face pressed into his side. 

“They didn’t want to let us leave…” she started to say, “back when Chiba-obaasama came to get us.”

“There was this man… he made mama work so hard, and she was so scared all the time… the day after obaasama left, mama smuggled us out in the night. She carried me and she ran all the way to where obaasama was. Obaasama's chakra is so bright, so warm... it was easy to find, even for me, but she was exhausted afterwards, she slept for _days._ And then we were told mama had been declared a Kusa missing-nin, even though she’s only a C ranked ninja…"

She shook her head from side to side, clenching her hands into fists.

"and… and I’m _scared_ Naru, the longer we’re here, that someone will recognize me and force me to stay."

Naruto frowned. 

He turned towards Karin, so that their faces were close together, their foreheads almost touching. 

“Don’t be stupid Kacchin,” he whispered harshly, and then looking at her unhappy face, softened his expression. 

“It’s been years since you where here, no one will recognize you, you’ve changed.”

It was true. Karin had been 6, same as Naruto, when she’d arrived at Uzushio. She’d been a timid child, hiding behind her choppy, short hair. She’d been thin, and pale. 

Seven years later, she’d grown out her hair. Though still spiky, it now reached down to her waist. Her skin had darkened, out in the Uzushio sun, though Naruto’s bronze completion was still a couple shades darker than hers. 

And her confidence and attitude where miles away from her shy past. Karin was loud, sometimes louder than Naruto, outspoken and full of energy. 

There was a picture in one of Chiba-baasama’s photo albums, of when Naruto had just arrived at the village, when he was 6 and Karin 7… and he liked to look at it only to see how far they’d come. In the picture, both Naruto and Karin stood in front of the Clan’s main house, Naruto wringing his hands in his shirt, a small, hopeful smile on his face, his shoulders hunched. Karin standing straight, looking blankly forward. 

In contrast, their gennin picture showed Karin with her arms thrown around both her teammates, bringing them close to her, matching grins on her face and Naruto’s, smiling as wide as their faces would let them. 

Haku’s mask was slightly askew, knocked around by the sudden movement, their one visible eye slightly wide, their mouth in a small, surprised ‘oh’ shape. Konan-sensei was behind them, smiling as well. 

Back in the darkness of the room, Karin still looked unconvinced. 

“Besides,” Naruto whispered fiercely, “you know I wouldn’t let anyone take you. And Haku would’t either. And Konan-sensei would kick anyone’s ass that we hadn’t gotten to already.”

Karin’s face began to loosen. It wasn’t a smile yet, but it was progress. 

“I know…" she began, "it’s just... mama was so scared, of me taking the exams. People _die_. And it's usually foreign ninja…unexperienced ninja. I’m scared, is all.” she finished. 

Out of the relative darkness, Haku’s soft voice rang out. 

"I’m scared as well,” they said. 

Naruto wasn’t surprised, exactly, that Haku had been paying attention, but he was glad to hear their teammate join the conversation. 

“There will be Kiri ninja at the exam as well. Unlike you, I’m not worried of being recognized… at least I don’t think anyone is left alive who could. And I left Kubikiribōchō at home. But still, like you, I am scared.”

Karin turned back around, so she was no longer giving Haku her back, and after a bit of shuffling, she pulled them both towards Naruto, so they were all close enough to see each other’s faces, somewhat, even in the dark. 

Naruto smiled at Haku, extremely pleased to see the other teen refer to Uzushio as _home_. 

“Kiri ninja are stupid,” he said, in solidarity to his teammate. He could see Haku smiling, at that. 

“And the Kusa ninja who tried to force you to stay in this... _inferior_ village is stupid too,” he said, poking Karin in the ribs and making her squeal, before covering her mouth with her hands and giggling.

“And any Konoha ninja who stand in our way.” he said, just for good measure. 

He heard another giggle, and was unsure if it had originated from Karin or Haku. 

“And Ame ninja” said Karin, her voice, _finally_ , back to normal. Her confidence back.

“So that Konan-sensei isn't left out, even in spirit” she said, stretching out her arm into the air, and twirling her wrist dramatically. 

It was Haku, who was giggling, Naruto noticed.

“She’d be pretty angry, if she knew we were still awake.” they pointed out. 

Agreeing and murmuring quietly, they moved around until they were comfortable. They snuggled back into their bags, closer together than they had been at the start, murmured goodnight again, more heartfelt, this time, and listening to each other’s even breathing, finally went to sleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Somewhat shorter than the last two chapters! But the next part of the story deserved to start fresh (finally Konoha!) so there you have it. Notes are shorter this chapter too. 
> 
> 1\. So, Naruto and Karin are cousins. Cousins who grew up together, so they definetly call each other by nicknames. I was going to have Karin be 'Kacchan', but I read Boku no Hero Academia, so the ONE AND ONLY Kacchan is a blonde explodo-boi. Kacchin is suitably cute and different. 
> 
> 2\. Continuing with my theme of Uzushiogakure citizens being mostly refugees and migrants... leaving a country isn't always that easy. Sometimes your papers are expired, sometimes it's money... in this case, I'm making Zosui the bad guy here. He already kind of was, anyways. 
> 
> 3\. Kubikiribōchō! So, at some point I'm obviously going to go into Naruto and Haku's backstory, but not quite yet. Just know that Haku wouldn't have left his master's treasured sword just lay there where any old ninja (Suigetsu) could steal it. 
> 
> 4\. Team bonding ♥️. I have a quote saved onto my quote notebook that says: "you're going to discover that conversations are best at four am. The heavier the eyelids, the sincerer the words" And it's so true! I've told my deepest secrets in the dead of the night, so I'm making my babies be honest and vulnerable and scared in the dark, where they have friends and family to hug and share with. Unfortunately I have no idea who said it, otherwise I'd credit the poet/author :(


	4. welcome my son

The gates of Konoha loomed massive before them- and yet, in Naruto’s memory, they had seemed bigger still. 

Haku and Karin, together with the Kusa ninja who had never been to the land of fire had exclaimed at the size of the trees, big at the border but bigger and bigger the closer they had gotten to Konoha. 

They entered the village, their papers reviewed and signed, then politely said goodbye to the Kusa ninja. There were five teams from grass participating. 

Naruto was glad to see them go. One of the jonnin’s had been trying to flirt with Konan-sensei, asking about her _beautiful blue hair_ , and her _pretty paper flower_ and how _exotic her piercing was._ Konan-sensei hadn’t said anything… but her face got blander and blander, and the Uzushio gennin could tell by that, more than anything, how annoyed she was. 

Yes, Konan-sensei was beautiful. There was no denying that. But she was also _terrifying_ and _strong,_ and could probably slice the other jonnin into a thousand little pieces, if she felt like it. 

To top it off, when they’d stopped to eat before entering Konoha, Naruto had heard a couple of the other gennin whispering about them. 

“They look so _tiny_.” said one. 

“Young, too. Unexperienced, that makes them weak.”

“What was their village _thinking_? Sending out only one team… they're going to look bad, in front of the other villages. Uzushio is already so small, it would have been better if they hadn’t come at all."

Naruto had bristled, and would have started a fight right then and there if it weren’t for Haku. 

The other Uzushio ninja’s hand had flashed out as Naruto began to stand, and held him still. Haku’s grip was strong. 

With the mask on, Naruto couldn’t see Haku’s eyes, but when he turned to look at them, Haku raised their free hand, and began to sign. 

All ninja villages had unique hand signals, usually used by senior ninja on assassination or infiltration missions that required absolute silence. 

Uzushio ninja learned them in the academy, on account of them having to be able to communicate underwater. A typical D rank mission in Uzushio was diving for clams, or harvesting coral, and if divers couldn’t tell one another where to look, or where to avoid… missions would be much longer. 

Haku was a genius. Two weeks after studying the hand signals, he’d already been able to communicate accurately. They'd mixed Kiri hand signs a couple of times, at the beginning, but they hadn’t made a mistake in weeks. Naruto doubted they would ever make another. 

_Ignore them. Underestimating us can only be beneficial._

Naruto had agreed, but Hak kept an eye on him the remainder of the trip. He was actually kind of thankful, he wasn’t sure he wouldn’t have “accidentally” tripped up one of the Kusa ninja if it weren’t for his teammates watchful eye, and possibly caused an international incident even before the exams began. Yeah, Chiba-baasama would have loved that. So he was thankful for Haku. 

A chunnin led them into the village and towards the place were they would be staying. The exams began in three days time, and so they would be able to relax, supposedly, and sightsee if they wanted to, before hand. 

The inn they were lodging in was medium sized and traditional. Wooden columns and white walls, and pointed roofs. Like all of Konoha, trees and a nice garden framed the building on all sides. 

The Konoha chunin left them, and soon they were unpacking their belongings. Once again, Konan-sensei had her own room, and the genin were sharing, for which Naruto was thankful. They’d bonded the previous night, as a team, and he wanted to continue building on that. 

It didn’t take long for Naruto to finish up. Unlike his teammates, he had brought most of his belongings in sealed scrolls, instead of packed bags. 

They had a desk near the window, where he sat down, looking as Haku organized his kimono in the dresser, tapping his fingers against the wood and bouncing his leg. He buzzed with energy and excitement. 

Konoha! he was back in Konoha… there were so many things to do, and little time to do it. The exams where said to last a month, and during them his attention would be focused on passing. He wasn’t sure were to start, with his personal mission. 

He decided to make a list. With a couple of seals he materialized a piece of paper and pen. 

_Mom’s picture_ was #1.

Under it, he put a series of interrogation marks. Library? Ninja Administration Office? Hokage? 

He wondered if any of those would let him in, as a foreign ninja. Konan-sensei probably knew, but she had mysteriously disappeared as soon as they arrived. 

Second on the list said _Uzumaki relative?_

The rest of the items weren’t as important as those first two.

_Visit vivarium_

_Buy kunai and shuriken_

_Find a cool birthday present for baa-sama_

He stared at his paper, tapping the pen against it a couple of time, and made a decision. It wasn’t difficult, all things considered. 

“Kachin!” called out Naruto. 

Karin, washing her face in the bathroom, the door open, called back. 

“Yeah? What’s up?”

Naruto reached into his jacket and took out the paper Chiba-baasama had given him. He held it out between two fingers, waving it in front of him. 

“Baa-sama gave me the address of an Uzumaki kinsman living here… want to come with me and meet this… Kizuna-ossan with me? 

Karin’s head popped out of the bathroom and looked at him. She pushed her glasses up. 

“Sure! Do you have any idea who he’s actually related to?"

Naruto shrugged. As far as he knew, after some rather boring lessons from Chiba-baasama, the Uzumaki family had 3 major branches. It used to be a much larger clan, with over 100 members, but instead of hiding or fleeing, most of them had stayed at Uzushio, fought, and died, with it’s almost destruction. 

Now there were only 10 members, including Honoka’s baby, living in the village. Chiba-baasama was Naruto's great grandmother, and Nagato's... but she wasn't Karin's.

“I guess we can ask?” Naruto said, scratching his head. “Mostly I wanna ask him if he knew my mom! He's a place to start that isn’t the Hokage... I don’t think it’s gonna be as easy as it was when I was a child to meet up with the old man.”

Sitting on their bed, reading a scroll, Haku snorted, laughing. They covered up their mouth with their hand, but their meaning was obvious. 

Naruto pouted. 

“Don’t laugh! He did visit me, when I was a kid, you know?”

Naruto had yet to tell Haku about his special situation, so he didn’t press the issue. Instead, he swerved around and looked at his teammate straight on. 

“You can come too Haku! That is, if you wanna…?"

Haku smiled, pulling their hair down, and taking off the mask. As always, Naruto was deeply impressed by how pretty his teammate was. 

“No Naruto-kun,” they said, “I’m actually quite tired from today’s journey, and yesterday's. I think I will take a nap and then go in search of the market. Konoha is one of the major ninja cities, and marketplaces are always a good indicator of what the people are like. Who knows? I might even buy a new kimono.”

Karin finally exited the bathroom, and with an exaggerated motion threw herself besides Haku, draping her arms around them. 

“Booooring, Haku-chan! But if it makes you happy, that’s ok. I know you are a boring person by nature. Just remember to have your hitae-ate visible if you do leave the room! Konan-sensei says that as foreign ninja, one of our obligations is to display our loyalties… and no one wants Konan-sensei to be mad."

Haku nodded seriously, and gently shook her off. 

Naruto rolled his eyes at them, and offered Karin his hand so she could get up. With a final wave, they set out. 

Konoha was a big village, but directions where easy to follow and soon they were standing in front of a nice looking house in one of the ninja residential parts of the village. It was a place he had never been to before, and most of the people they encountered on the street looked at their headbands curiously, before moving on. 

Haruno Kizashi answered the door after a few knocks. He had a kind face, dark pink hair, green eyes. 

His eyes swept over both of them, and then he did a visual double take, his eyes landing on Naruto’s exposed cheeks, and the unmistakable markings on them. 

His face turned _white_. 

Naruto frowned, lightly, and casually tucked his hands behind his back, clenching them together. 

Kizashi regained his composure after a second, his eyes drifting to Naruto’s headband, and the Uzushio symbol displayed on it. 

“H-Hello? Can I help you?” he asked, his voice level, though inquiring. 

Taking a deep breath, Naruto smiled slightly. 

“Sorry to bother you! My name is Uzumaki Naruto, this is Uzumaki Karin… I… I was wondering if you knew my mother? Uzumaki Kushina? I’m looking for information on her while we are in the village, and you seemed like a good place to start… if you wouldn’t mind?”

Kizashi was silent for a while, and curiously, so was Karin. After a few moments, Naruto was about to excuse himself once more and leave when the older man finally answered. 

“Of course Naruto-san, Karin-san. I didn’t know her as well as you probably would like, but… If you’d like to come in and have a cup of tea?”

With that, they entered the house, and after a few minutes they were all seated in a comfortable and cozy kitchen. There were pictures on most of the walls, most of Kizashi himself with a blonde woman and a young girl with pale pink hair and his same green eyes. 

After the formalities and pleasantries, (Karin: you have a lovely house, Kizashi-san, Naruto: this tea is delicious, thank you) Kizashi asked, 

“What… what would you like to know?”

Naruto tried not to look at the man. He felt a series of conflicting emotions, and they were making him anxious. He wanted to know about his mother. It was what he _most_ wanted at the moment… and yet. One look and the older man had reminded Naruto uncomfortably of what he represented, to this village. 

Thankfully, Karin was as chatty as he was, and she spoke before he had time to organize his thoughts. 

“Anything you can tell us will be appreciated. All we really know about her is that she was a ninja.”

Naruto chanced a look at Kizashi, and the man, though still visibly tense, was looking at him now with understanding, and maybe even pity. 

He nodded. 

“I see… well, like I said, we weren’t close. Kushina and I travelled when we were children to Konoha, but we’re only distantly related. My mother was Uzumaki, but she stayed in Uzushio… well. Kushina was… _loud_ , is the first thing that I can think of. She wore her hair long, almost to her knees, and she was a terrific ninja…she made jonnin by 18 I think. She had a nickname... they called her the red-hot habanero of Konoha.”

The truth was Kizashi really _didn’t_ know much about Kushina. But they stayed and listened to what little he knew; she’d wanted to be the Hokage, apparently, and she’d been fond of pranking. Kizashi confirmed that though Konoha ninja were for the most part cremated, and therefore there was no cemetery they could visit, there was a memorial they could go to pay their respects for ninja fallen in battle, if they wished. 

Both Karin and Naruto thanked him for his hospitality, and bowing began to leave. Kizashi followed them to the front door, and then called out. 

“Wait! You two… you are here for the chunnin exams aren’t you?”

“Yeah! What about it?” said Karin, looking at Kizashi’s chunnin vest curiously.

“I have a daughter,” he said, “She’s about your age… and she’s a gennin. She might participate in the exams as well. If she does… well. It’s a distant tie, but you are family. I hope you treat her like allies.” 

“Sure old man.” said Naruto, making eye contact with the older man. “You didn’t have to help me with my request, and you did… so it’s only fair.” 

A small smile made it’s way onto Kizashi’s face, and he nodded. 

“I wish you luck in your search then, Naruto-san. And to you both in the exams. Goodbye.” 

He closed the door after that, and slowly and silently, the two gennin began walking back down the path they’d arrived. 

A couple of minutes passed in silence, before Karin nugged Naruto, and started talking. 

“Naru?” she said, “He was… he was tense… and uncomfortable. And not just because of a conversation with distant relatives! I think he was afraid?”

It was a statement, but the inflection of her voice made it sound like a question. 

Naruto brought a hand up to his cheek, rubbing it. The tree horizontal groves were like scars, rough under his touch. Nagato-nii made him carry patches to cover them with his ninja tools, in case of an undercover mission… but he’d only had to use them once. He contemplated wearing them for the exams. 

“He probably was” replied Naruto, after a moment. “He recognized me almost immediately… what I was. What I am.”

Karin frowned severely. 

“That _sucks_. I know you’ve told me, what it was like. And… Kusa sucked, for sure, so I thought I understood. But I didn’t really, did I? What it was like for you here…”

Naruto stayed quiet. They continued walking.

“He’s _family_. He should fucking know better.” she hissed, suddenly angry. 

And just like that, the heavy feeling in Naruto’s chest evaporated. He felt a smile bloom, and he decided to jump onto his cousin, hugging her. They were exactly the same height, so it was a little uncomfortable and he made Karin stumble and curse him, but it only made Naruto grin wider, and laugh. 

“No, he’s not. Not really. You’re family, cousin. It’s more than just the blood, now. We care about each other, secrets and all.”

Karin grumbled, but she hugged him back, fiercely. 

“Damn right we are. We take care of each other.” she replied. 

It was still early, so they decided to explore a little. They visited Naruto’s old apartment, taking more than once missed turn to get there. Some things Naruto swore he remembered, and yet, when he saw them again they were so changed he wondered if he had really imagined them so differently, or if a six year old height really affected perception that much. 

They visited the Hokage monument next, the number one tourist spot in Konoha, and even saw a few hitae-ate that didn’t have a leaf symbol on them there. Then they bought flowers, and searched for the monument to fallen ninja. _Uzumaki Kushina_ ’s name was on it, and so was _Uzumaki Mito_. Naruto traced both names with his finger, reverently. His family... and his predecesors. 

At that point, they decided to go find Haku before going to look for a place to eat, and headed back to the hotel they were staying at. As they were arriving, a couple of paces from the entrance, Naruto noticed a team from Suna heading to the same place. A blond girl with a huge fan on her back, a boy in a cat suit and kabuki paint, and a much shorter red haired boy, with impossible looking shadows around his eyes and a tattoo with the kanji for love carved on his forehead. 

He looked them over quickly, but as they approached, Karin suddenly stoped dead in her tracks, grabbing him and pulling him towards her. The team from Suna eyed them curiously, but disregarded them and continued on into the building. They were silent, the smallest taking the lead. 

“Kacchin?” asked Naruto, curious. 

“Wait” she said, and made a seal to concentrate her chakra. She sat on the ground, crosslegged, frowning, facing their hotel. 

Naruto’s eyes widened, and he looked around, semi-consciously flexing his hands, ready to protect his teammate while she entered her sensory trance. 

No one payed them any mind. 

It didn't take more than a minute, but as soon as she found what she was looking for, Karin’s head snapped up, and she surfaced with a gasp. 

_whats up?_ Naruto signed, aware that something had to be decidedly off for her to act that way. 

She looked at him, her eyes wide, then turned her head back to the hotel entrance, now empty. She signed back. 

_that boy. The one with the red hair…_

_he…_

_his chakra._

_it’s like yours._

Naruto frowned. Not understanding her hesitance. 

_like mine in quantity?_ He asked, because though it would be surprising for someone else that young, it seemed unlikely Karin would go to so much trouble just to point that out. Naruto’s reserves were equivalent to a jonnins… massive, but not unheard of. 

_No._

She signed. 

_I mean it’s… mixed._

There was no actual sign for what he was, but with a gesture Karin began to spell it out. 

_jin_

_chu_

_riki_

Naruto’s eyebrows rose in surprise. He was no where near as good a sensor as his cousin, but he imitated her handsign, closed his eyes and tried to feel around him.

It didn’t take long at all. 

Karin’s chakra, close to him and familiar was warm and steady. There were other flickers across his perception of ninja all around. Straight in front of him was a furnace, the regular blue color of chakra tainted, or as Karin would say, _mixed_ , with a dark, _almost_ familiar, malevolent aura. 

He opened his eyes, and without thinking, spoke instead of signing. 

“Do you think they put us in the same place as a joke? Or as a precaution?”

Karin stood back up, and shrugged. 

“I doubt it…It’s kind of audacious, on Suna’s part. Ours as well, bringing you... but like this morning demonstrated, Konoha is at least _aware_ of you. The Hokage knew who and what you are when he approved your application... I... wonder… about him.”

Naruto hummed in agreement. 

“Naru” said Karin her tone turning unexpectedly intense. Naruto turned to her, and locked eyes. 

“He’s different from you, that boy… I can feel it, just being close to him… now that I know he’s here I won’t be able to forget him either… it feels bloodthirsty. Like barely restrained killing intent. And... closer to the surface. I’m not exactly sure what that means.”

They returned to their room. Haku was still there, sitting on the desk, writing on a piece of paper, oblivious to their sudden discovery. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm jumping on the bandwagon that says Sakura has Uzumaki blood in her. :) 
> 
> 1\. Now, one of the things that's always bugged me about stories that talk about the parent-generation was that supposedly the parents were friends with Minato and Kushina and then after they died...no one was even semi-decent to Naruto? It just... it doesn't sit right. Like, I'm old enough for some of my friends to have babies already, and as horrible as it is to think about, if my friends died and the baby was left alone, there is no way I wouldn't, at the very least, visit every now and then. And I get that this is fiction, and so the experience is not comparable... but come on! NO ONE was nice to Naruto before Iruka? It has to be more than the fucking stupid law. So my headcannon justification for that is that Konoha ninja were terrified of Naruto. Terrified AF. Like, they ignored him out of fear, he came near they noped the fuck away. There's literally only 9 jinchuuriki in the world, and the sealing process is ridiculously obscure, so, respect or not to the fourth, ninja were terrified that anything would set Naruto off and he'd loose it and kill them all, so they just tried to be as far away as possible always. Kizuna isn't a bad guy... he just has severe PTSD of the Kyuubi attack as do all the ninja who witnessed it. 
> 
> 2\. Cremation! So, it's the land of fire, I'm imagining ninja are cremated and then families have a short ceremony and they spread the ashes into the wind. Now, this isn't going to be in the story but I'm sharing it anyways. Uzushio ninja are sent out in boats that get sucked into the whirlpools, and so go to the bottom of the ocean. In Iwa they are definitely buried, lol.
> 
> 3\. I'm imagining that with a better diet than ramen every day and with people to take care of him, Naruto is slightly taller too. Haku is taller than both of them. 
> 
> 4\. Aaaaand Gaara! Ha. That's my mini cliffhanger until the next chapter. Where the exams start.


	5. and you didn't like school

Three days later, and it was the day of the exam. They’d been notified that the exams where to begin at the ninja academy building, so that was where the team headed. 

“This is the place I most wanted to be at, when I lived here.” said Naruto, looking up at the building, absentmindedly scratching his covered cheek, unused to the feeling of the patch over his skin. He’d decided to play it safe and cover the distinctive markings on his face, at least for the moment. 

After the surprising revelation of the Suna jinchuuriki being part of the exams, he’d decided, with reinforcement by Konan-sensei, that keeping his identity secret might be a good idea. 

“You are not hiding” Konan-sensei had said, “but you are not advertising either. Any opponent foolish enough to underestimate you is in for a shocking revelation.” 

Naruto liked that. He hated being underestimated, and Uzushiogakure, thanks to It’s size and history, always was. Undeservedly so, as he was sure to demonstrate to the grass ninja they’d traveled with and anyone else stupid enough to say so. 

So the patches on his cheeks stayed on, and his former alliance to Konoha, brief though it was, stayed secret. 

Naruto stared up at the ninja academy with mixed feelings. 

“Six years later, and look! Now I’m finally here.”

Haku made a humming noise. 

“All rivers reach the ocean, eventually” they said, as if quoting. Their mouth, visible beneath the mask, quirked up into a smirk. “Zabusa-sama used to say that, every time he met a Kiri ninja. It means-“

“Better late than never?” Interrupted Karin, snorting incredulously, and throwing an arm over the taller teens shoulder to lean against them. 

“You say that, Haku-chan, because you didn’t know Naruto in school. This development is shocking. _Shocking_! I tell you."

Naruto grinned at them both, then stared back at the gates in front of them. He had been a terrible student in the Uzushio Ninja Institute. He had no doubt he would have been atrocious in Konoha, without Karin's tutoring and nagging to keep him from failing. Nevertheless, Konoha’s Ninja Academy had been a dream to Naruto, once upon a time… and it felt good, in a way, to take the chunnin exams it the same building. It gave him a sense of closure. 

“Closing circles, ” said Konan sensei, mirroring his thoughts, “You don’t necessarily need to like something to yearn for it Karin.” 

Karin grinned up at her, and then, without any prompting, they all turned to their teacher, sensing she was about to speak. 

Konan-sensei didn’t smile at them, because she rarely did, but the severe blankness of her face eased, the corners of her mouth, if you were looking at them, twitched upwards. 

She eyed them critically for a moment, and they straightened under her amber eyes. 

The tallest of the three was Haku, who seemed to grow every day. They had a thin build, which was well hidden by the flowing silk furisode they wore. It was a dark blue, with bright pink, coral and green shells embroidered on the lapels. Under it, they wore a white turtleneck water-proof mesh shirt, and grey hakama like pants that ended at their ankles. They wore sandals, a long sash, and no visible ninja pouches. Their hair was tied in a bun on top of their head, two strands falling before the mask on their face, these braided and tied of with ornamental bone cuffs, storage seals carved into each one. Most Uzushiogakure ninja wore bright, patterned clothing… but Haku had originally been from Kiri, and an assassin to boot, so he was the darkest of the three. Tall, dark handsome, Karin had joked more than once, when they’d taken off their mask during breaks in missions and a client had turned to stare in awe. All that changed, of course, when he wore “civilian” clothing, then they embraced yellow, pink and pastel colored kimonos. 

Karin, by contrast, embraced Uzushio ninja fashion. She wore navy blue compression shorts, just over her bellybutton and knees, and a patterned red, and baby blue skirt over it. Her mesh shirt was red and stripped, with a high neck and long sleeves, and she wore shin guards and red sandals. She had various necklaces, ranging in length from a choker down to her ribs, seashell earrings and her Uzumaki red hair, though loose, was adorned with various hanging jewels, each one with a rune inscribed into it. Her glasses were the same red shade as most of her clothing, and they too, had seals running the length of the frame. 

Naruto had helped make the glasses, together with Honoka, for Karin when she graduated the Institute. It had been one of his first truly creative use of seals, and he’d been experimenting with them ever since. Seals were awesome, and useful as well. Naruto didn’t carry ninja pouches because of them. The seals on his bracelets were mostly storage, and they activated with the slightest injection of chakra. He did carry a few empty scrolls on his waist though, to create new seals. The rest of his clothes was vibrant, but practical. He wore a pale blue sleeveless shirt with the Uzumaki spiral on the front, and orange shorts. Under these, he wore black tights, waterproof and necessary for diving into the ocean around the village when it got cold. His hitae-ate had a long cloth, going down to his waist, and he had bandages tied around his ankles. 

Konan sensei, apparently satisfied with her evaluation, nodded at them, once. 

“From here on, you will advance without me. Haku, Karin, Naruto. You are all excellent ninja, and a testament to our village. I have no doubt that you all have the capacity to pass these exams.” 

She spoke quietly, but with authority, and they stared at her raptly, attentively. 

"That said, do not take stupid chances. Do not get into stupid fights. You are representing our village, and the last thing we need is for you to die, or to be crippled, trying to appear more than what you are… don’t panic, lean on one another, look at everything as a potential weapon. Make us proud.”

Naruto shifted, his hand going up to his forehead, to trace the spiral on it. Haku readjusted their mask, Karin pushed up her glasses. 

They saluted Konan-sensei, and she dissolved into paper, leaving them alone. 

The exam was to be held on the third floor, and the room was more than half full when they arrived. They were at least half an hour early from the designated time, but ninja were, as a general rule, punctual, so it was not truly a surprise. 

The best seats, the ones that had a direct line of sight to all the windows and the door, with the backs to the wall, were already taken, so they chose a table at the middle of the room. 

It was mostly silent, hushed murmurs and rustling clothes being the loudest noise. Everyone seemed to asses each other, tension mounting as the minutes passed. 

A group of Konoha ninja gathered in front of the door. Naruto eyed them with interest. They were young, like him, and he recognized Sakura, Kizashi’s daughter, from the pictures at his house. He would have noticed her even without them, her pink hair was unique enough to stand out on its own. 

Sakura’s teammates were a dark haired boy wearing a blue shirt and white shorts and a brown haired boy with red markings on his face and, hilariously, a puppy sitting on his head. They were one of the last teams to enter the room. 

With Sakura’s team was an incredibly beautiful blond haired girl, a fat kid munching chips, and a boy with hair done up like a pineapple. 

Naruto nudged Karin. 

_Should we introduce ourselves?_

He asked her, signing, and she eyed the group with interest. Her eyes, Naruto noticed, lingered on Sakura’s black haired teammate. 

_No._ she replied. _Too much attention, not the time. But I’ll mark her chakra signature, to track her down later._

Naruto shrugged, but ultimately agreed. It was a good plan, though he was beginning to get bored, and the group looked interesting. He wondered if they would have been his friends, had he stayed in Konoha all those years ago. 

Naruto let his attention wander once more, taking in the gennin around him. He frowned at the grass ninja who had traveled with them, at the few Kiri ninja, on principle, Kiri and Uzushio, though not at war, where never on good terms considering the almost destruction of the smaller village, when he heard his name, and his attention snapped back to the group at the front of the room. 

He stared at his teammates, both tense and alert, suddenly, though doing a better job than he was at concealing it. 

“Sabaku no Gaara, Rock Lee, Uzumaki Naruto” said the grey haired ninja that had joined the younger ninja. 

“Sabaku no Gaara. He’s from a foreign country, so I don’t know as much about him as a Konoha ninja, but… looks like he’s never been injured on a mission. His teammates are his siblings, Temari and Kankuro. Mission History: 8 C-rank missions, 1 B-rank… wow, a B-rank mission as a gennin,” he said, admiringly. 

Naruto looked at Karin, remembering the not-meeting a couple of days ago. 

They’d told Konan-sensei about the Suna jinchuuriki as soon as their teacher had returned. 

After a tense moment, Konan-sensei had concluded that it was a logical move, from Konoha’s point of view, to house the Suna teams in their same lodging. Uzushio and Oto where only sending 1 team, and Suna had sent 3… a small number, considering the 21 from rain and 6 from mist and waterfall, 5 from grass.

Konoha Shinobi had to expend resources to observe the foreign ninja while they were in leaf, as attested by the ANBU positioned outside, and considering Suna and Uzushio had no obvious tensions, yes, it was a logical move. 

Though, she mused, it was also an incredible and almost unbelievable coincidence. Maybe, sensei had said, it was fate. 

Because she was like that. 

Later, they’d told Haku that the Suna ninja was unusually powerful, and Naruto had once more thought about revealing his own secret to his teammate… but in the end he hadn’t. It was possible Haku _suspected_ , considering how they’d met, and if they remained teammates it couldn’t remain a secret much longer… but, ultimately, the less people who knew, for now, the better. 

He’d missed hearing the mysterious and certainly formidable Rock Lee’s stats during his musings about Sabaku no Gaara, but his name brought Naruto’s attention back to the moment. 

“Uzumaki Naruto,” began grey-haired older guy, “Huh, that’s interesting. He was born in Konoha, but for some reason decided to become a shinobi to Uzushiogakure, one of the smallest ninja nations… Mission History: 10-D ranks, 1-C rank and oh! one B-rank completed as well. He’s an Uzumaki, a clan renowned for their vitality, large chakra supplies and proficiency with seals. His teammates are Uzumaki Karin and Momochi Haku… may I ask how come you wanted to know about him?”

Sakura was the one who asked, and she blushed, her pale cheeks turning the same color as her hair. The blond girl besides her looked confusedly at pineapple. 

“He was from Konoha?” she asked. 

“Oh… no reason really. I was told to be wary” Sakura mumbled. Her black haired teammate frowned at her, and Naruto, who could imagine _who,_ relative though he was, might have warned the girl to be wary of him, was nudged by Haku. 

_That's a lot of information for a foreign ninja to have on you,_ they signed. 

Naruto’s frown deepened. It was true. It was more information than what he’d like the rest of the room to know. 

_It's technically all easy information to get,_ said Karin, 

_The forms we filled in to register for the exams included our completed mission tally. And there aren’t many Uzumaki’s left, but we are in the official Clan Registry book from the warring period eras._

_Yes,_ replied Haku, _but those forms were given directly to the proctors. And Naruto’s birth country, even here, should not be public knowledge._

Before they could continue the discussion, a fight broke out at the front of the room between grey haired older guy, one of the rookie Konoha ninja called him Kabuto, so that was apparently his name, and a ninja from Oto. 

It was broken up almost immediately by the appearance of the exam proctors. 

Naruto’s unease about the previous conversation evaporated, excited once more to begin… and then that excitement vanished promptly when he heard what the exam consisted of. 

…..

Because it was a _written_ exam. 

Which was… shit. _Not_ good. He should of taken the building as a _sign_ , really. 

Though it was too late to back down now. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Looooll guess who severely underestimated productivity, depression and motivation during quarantine. 
> 
> I have like...75% of this story sketched out, and yet... that 25% is filling up the gaps between one scene and another so... yeah. It's been a minute. In any case! yey, im baack... with more fic and fic notes: 
> 
> 1\. Small detail, but the Uzushio ninja school is called an Institute, and the Konoha one is an Academy. I like Institute because Uzushio is a sealing specialist village, and so that space counts as the sealing investigation area too. So yes, the pre-gennin learn there, but so do ninja looking to advance their theoretical knowledge. 
> 
> 2\. So I've been postponing describing my Uzushio gennin, but soon I'm going to have to allude to their clothing while they fight, so I decided to get that over with now. Like I said! 
> 
> 3\. The Konoha gennin appear! You might have noticed neither Shino or Hinata are there. In this story, without Naruto to motivate her, Hinata's been training with Hyuuga tutors instead of sticking at the academy, and Shino's team failed, but his jonnin-sensei took him on as a single student. He wasn't nominated for the chunnin exams.
> 
> 4\. I gave Haku Zabusa's last name ❤︎. We'll get to how he joined hidden whirlpool eventually! 
> 
> I broke this chapter up because it was getting too long so (hopefully!) I'll have the next one up pretty soon.


	6. did we tell you the name of the game, boy?

For the exams, teams where, unsurprisingly, broken up. Each gennin was assigned a spot. There were a few rules, no cheating, obviously, silence, the usual. 

Before going to his seat, Karin bumped Naruto’s shoulder. 

“You’ll be fine Naru,” she whispered, “remember what sensei said, just don’t panic.”

He’d flashed her a smile, and with a deep breath, taken his seat. He was up front, seated between an Ame ninja and a Konoha ninja. Both dwarfed him in size, and were noticeably older than him.

Actually, Naruto thought, scanning the room once more, there were very few people his age. The Konoha teams who he’d noticed previously, the Oto ninja who’d attacked them and… two spots to his left, the redhead from Suna. Gaara. 

He eyed the other boy, itching to talk to him. As if sensing his gaze, Gaara’s eyes snapped towards him, then narrowed. 

Naruto sighed, and looked away. Now was obviously not the time. Haku was two rows back and to the right, Karin on the second to last row and directly behind him. 

Still, he turned a final time before the exam started to stare at his teammates. Karin smiled at him and stuck two thumbs up at him in encouragement. Haku’s face was impassive, but he signed him, 

_good luck._

Before looking down at his exam paper. 

Naruto did the same, looking down at the paper he would have to turn around and face in a few minutes. He felt a bead of cold sweat run down his back. 

At some point in his first year in the ninja institute, Chiba-baasama had noticed that Naruto struggled more than usual with written texts. 

He was fine taking verbal cues, but he hated reading with a passion and his writing was atrocious. This was, they discovered, because he had something called ‘dyslexia’, which caused letters to move around on a page and him to change their order when reading and writing. 

He could do both… he just took longer than usual. He’d gotten better, and faster, once he started sealing, learning tricks to work around the moving letters. But that was different, because Naruto liked sealing, and he really really didn’t like exams. 

The proctors gave the room the signal to start. With a deep breath, Naruto turned the paper. 

There were ten questions, which wasn’t that bad, all considered. 

He read them. Then he re-read them. 

.

.

.

_What. The. Fuuuuuck._

He concluded. He had no idea what half of the questions were saying and no clue as to any of the answers. 

Slowly, but surely, and going completely against what sensei had said, he began to panic. 

To be honest, Naruto had no idea that any of the things asked on the exam where standard chunnin knowledge. Maybe in Konoha, but he didn’t think anyone in Uzushio cared about any of this shit. Kunai trajectories? International treaties during the 1st Shinobi war? 

There was a question specifically about medical care in the field, and he was sure Karin, at least, would know how to answer… and actually, Haku too. Haku would probably know most of the answers come to think of it, he thought glumly, because Haku knew all sorts of things. 

Konan-sensei had _said_ neither she nor the village would care if they weren’t promoted, but to lose in the first test was kind of pathetic, he reasoned. 

And he'd hate to be the reason his teammates went down as well. 

His first thought was to cheat. Then he discarded that idea, because the rules had been pretty strict. And the proctors were sure to catch him. His best cheating technique was to peek at his neighbors tests, and he wasn’t too subtle a ninja for that to work out. 

Out of the corner of his eye, Naruto could see that the Ame nin to his left looked about as stumped as he was, but the Konoha ninja seemed to be writing down thorough answers.

Maybe this test was asking standard chunnin knowledge, by Konoha standards. 

His next idea was to bank everything on the secret tenth question. 

He mulled that over for a while, but concluded that it would be irresponsible. There was no guarantee he would know that answer either, and chances were that the question was actually more difficult. And he’d still be letting his teammates down. 

He tried not to show his frustration, but his hand went up to his hair, tugging a strand as he thought furiously. Almost unconsciously, his eyes flickered to Gaara, wondering if the impassive Suna ninja was having any success. 

Gaara’s eyes were closed, he was sitting completely still, and making a half seal in front of his bowed head. It looked like dust was whirling slowly around him, but mostly, he looked like he was meditating. 

Which gave Naruto a third, but maybe not as stupid, idea. 

Actually, it was _absolutely_ stupid, but at least he’d be doing something. 

And, well. He was a doer. And he didn’t have any other ideas at the moment. 

With an audible sigh that had the Konoha ninja give him a stinky side eye, Naruto rolled his shoulders, closed his eyes, and copied the half seal. 

He concentrated. 

The easiest sense to block was sight. With his eyes closed, tiny flashes went off behind his eyelids, but they subsided after a couple of moments. 

His sense of smell was sharper than most, but that too, was easy to tune out. The wooden desk he was sitting at had a good, tangy feel to it, and his own smell, his clothing slightly salty, his skin and sweat, familiar. The rest fell way. 

Next was sound- as he concentrated it intensified around him for a moment, the shuffling papers, the mumbles, the scratching of pencils against paper. He breathed in. 

He breathed out. 

He could hear his own heartbeat, and he foccused on that, and the evenness of his breath. 

In. 

_thump. thump. thump._

Out. 

_thump. thump._

_thump._

thump. 

The darkness in his mind became a tunnel, at the end, a spot of light. The light became bigger and bigger as time passed, and eventually, it enveloped him. 

He opened his eyes. 

Of course, he didn’t, not really. 

It was a projection of himself, a mental image. He was in his mind, or the space were his spirit resided. Soul. Whatever. 

The Kyuubi’s cage loomed before him, bars 20 feet tall, thicker than his torso. 

Chiba baa-sama had told him of the Kyuubi on the day of his 7th birthday, that first one with her and his family, the anniversary of his mothers and fathers death. It had caused him conflicting feelings, anger, sadness, resentment… so he’d pushed it all away, and ignored the knowledge, until it had literally reared its head and he’d been unable to ignore it ever after. 

He’d been 10, diving for pearls with fishermen, years away from any mistrust and revulsion from people who didn’t know him, and on the third dive down, a ninja, orange hair, yellow eyes, no hitae-ate, a diving contraption that fueled air scraped to his back had grabbed him, and held him down so he couldn’t surface. 

He’d panicked of course, but the other boy, older, bigger, already a ninja, held him down. 

And that’s how he’d thought he’d die. Alone, underwater… a voice laughing. 

He blacked out. 

It didn’t occur to him until he’d woken up on a skerry, covered in blood, smelling it too and seeing a frenzy of sharks devouring the body that the ninja couldn’t have possibly been laughing underwater. 

He’d cried himself to sleep, and woke up to Nagato-nii and a searching group. After that… well. No one had told him, but he wasn’t stupid, and he put two and two together. The ninja had been sent to assassinate him, and though he wore no hitae-ate, but Naruto knew he must have been from Konoha. He’d wondered, then, why it had taken so long. It had been 4 years by then since he’d left the hidden leaf. Then he wondered if this was simply the first who’d made it as far as to confront him. 

The Kyuubi had taken over because of his panic, after he’d blacked out. Animals avoided him for close to a week, and though he knew, logically, he shouldn’t feel bad about the death of a ninja sent to kill him… he did. And the lack of control scared him. It was one of his worst memories.

Since then, he’d begun meditating, strengthening his minds cape. Fortunately, his cousin Honoka had arrived at the village around that time, the best of the remaining Uzumaki seal masters, and she’d taught him how to access the space where he was now. 

She was his teacher in all things seals, and she’d accompanied him more than once to “visit” the chakra demon. But years of infrequent visits meant he’d established some sort of bond with the beast. It had stopped trying to murder him with claws and tails through the bars every time he appeared, at least. 

Some days the giant fox was almost cordial. 

From deep inside the cage he could feel the malevolent chakra, and out came its voice. 

**brat.**

“Er.” said Naruto. 

He wasn’t actually sure what he wanted to do. Though the Kyuubi was millennia old, he doubted it actually knew the answer to cryptograms and medial shuuriken velocity. 

Even if it did, Naruto was unsure how to ask the bijuu to help him cheat on a test. It seemed risky, stupid, and… pedestrian, to a certain point, when confronted with the beast. Who even knew how the Konoha ninja would react if by some mistake he started pouring out red chakra. 

But two years visiting the cage had taught one thing about the bijuu: the Kyuubi had an ego, and he liked to be flattered. 

The Kyuubi was also privy to all his thoughts and actions, when he wanted to. Thankfully, it didn’t always, or even most of the time, care about his host, and so preferred to sleep, or hibernate, or brood, deep within him. 

Which meant Naruto has no idea if the Kyuubi was even aware of his current situation, and therefore… where to begin on his strange quest. 

“So!” He began, trying to sound cheerful, "I need your help! Only…not traditional sense.” He decided to say. 

At the end of the day, he wasn’t really a strategy guy. He preferred to wing it, and there was no way to truly prepare for Kyuubi in any case. There came a rumbling laughter from the darkness. 

**you don’t want chakra.**

It said. Naruto took a metaphorical seat in front of the cage, crosslegged. 

He conjured a replica of the test, not exact of course, but as close as he could remember without an eidetic memory and shit reading comprehension. 

“I need your help answering some questions. For a test”

A huge, red eye opens and peers out at him from the darkness. 

**a test.**

The Kyuubi’s voice sounds flat. 

“yeah! a ninja test… and, well, I thought maybe, you being so old and all, might know some of the answers?”

The Kyuubi shifted.

**Sometimes, brat, your idiocy surprises even me. And I’ve seen you be quite idiotic. I’m sure if you think of it a moment longer, you will discover the hidden truth of the exam.**

So he was aware. 

He stayed quiet a moment longer, then said, “I don’t get it.” because here, at least, he didn't have to pretend to be smarter or quieter than he really was. 

If there was one person…being? That Naruto didn't care to impress, and couldn’t even if he wanted to, it was the monster sealed within his stomach. 

**think.**

“Think about what.” snapped Naruto. Frustrated and no longer with any inclination to hide it. 

The Kyuubi sighed, and took a step into the light. It folded its paws in front of itself, a few tails swishing in and out of view, and propped his head over one of its paws, closing its eyes. 

Naruto felt his frown deepen, but the beast hasn’t insulted him too terribly yet, so… 

**what where the exam instructions again.**

Naruto fired them off. 

**How many times can’t you be caught?**

"But I already know that I would be caught! I don’t know how to cheat off of tests” he whined. “Now if the test was how to skip school…” he muttered

**So just cheat once.**

Came the voice. Snapping him out of a fantasy in which the test was actually how fast can you get out of the classroom without being caught. He’d ace that test. 

Then he actually though about what the bijuu was saying. 

“Wait, why are you helping me? you haven’t even tried to swipe at me once or say mean shit about my mom!” The Kyuubi swiped at Naruto, more in response to his words than for any other reason. Naruto didn't even lean back to avoid it. The non existent wind ruffled his hair with the speed of the passing tail. 

It looked fluffy and soft. 

One of Naruto’s less explainable urges was that one day, he’d like to run his fingers through the monster fox’s fur. It was sure to motivate the Kyuubi to finally break out, but there it was. 

**I can feel Shukaku’s brat close. And you I know you. You want to… engage him. I felt your curiosity before. I want to see how this plays out brat.**

“Shukaku?" asked Naruto.

**Shukaku is the Ichibi.**

**When you are ready to confront him, I will lend you my chakra.**

Naruto stood up, surprised. "But _why_?” he said again. 

**You know _why_ even though you hide it behind walls of self servitude. I am the STRONGEST, _boy_. **

**It must be demonstrated, every now and again.**

**People should _fear_ my power. **

With a deep breath Naruto’s world swirled back into darkness, the slitted eyes of the Kyuubi the last thing to disappear. Slowly, he regained the sense of his body. He flexed his fingers, and opens his eyes. 

Well then. 

He had a plan, now, at least. 

He picked up his pencil and started tapping it against the desk, wondering how to go about cheating, now that he knew he had to. 

And then, because Naruto’s teammates where the best, before his eyes, one of Haku’s mirrors, no bigger than an inch, materializes on top of his paper, Haku’s neat, small writing skratched into the ice in shorthand, giving him each answer. 

Naruto grinned. 

He’d kiss Haku as soon as this stupid exam was over. That was so cool. 

It took him a while to memorize the answers, he had to read and reread every one two or three times, and many of them didn’t make sense, despite being in a language he understood. The theory was too advanced for him, too technical. When he was finally sure he could replicate the answers, he touched the mirror and spiked a tiny (by his standards) amount of chakra into it, and the mirror dissolved into mist. 

_So cool._

The exam passed quickly after that. He’d barely had time to write in the last answer before the exam proctor with the scared face was calling them to attention and threatening them with failure should they fail the last question. 

Naruto didn’t even twitch in fear. 

He had Haku, and Karin, and, surprisingly, _apparently_ , even the Kyuubi was feeling generous. He’d take anything they threw at him and conquer it. 

It was almost a let down to know it had been a test of courage. 

But the first exam was over, and he’d passed. 

He’d passed!

Naruto’s eyes drifted to Gaara, once more. 

_Shukaku_ he thought. 

He wondered if the Kyuubi had a name like that. He resolved to ask, the next time he visited. 

Maybe. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First exam! Lol, this one is one one hand, the easy one, because there are only so many ways you can get past the written exam. Some day, I'm writing a story where they fail. Lol. Not this time though. 
> 
> 1\. Dyslexia!Naruto. So, My sister has dyslexia, and I used to make fun of her because she didn't like reading and her spelling sucked. So after we found out I felt pretty shitty about that. And honestly it must suck, it being so difficult just to read and write, and besides that people make fun of you. That kind of resonated with everything I headcannon and know about Naruto. 
> 
> 2\. Ninja who tried to kill Naruto is Fuu, from ROOT. Because you just know that Danzo would not take the Kyuubi's vessel leaving sitting down. 
> 
> That's it for this chapter! I had fun with it, but the next one is the Forrest of Death, which will be even better.


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